Findings through the practice of making Mokume gane

What I made has a half filed surface, so it reflects the light and shows muddy iridescence. The reflection contrasts well with patterns and we can feel rustic smoothness when we touch it, whereas the edge is ragged and harsh to the touch.

What I am sad about is that we cannot see how many layers actually fused together. It looks 5 or 6 layers in one billet although it is composed of 12 layers. When dense layers are visible on a cut, I am always delighted to see the success, and if I succeed making patterns, I do not want to lose the piece.

To be honest, carrying out the whole process of crafting Mokume gane is painstaking. Because of this and the fact that there are not many mokume gane practitioners in the world, I can imagine how easily Mokume gane might be lost again some future day. But once you know the gladness and the satisfaction with creating Mokume gane, it would be hard to forget that great feeling. So I think that Mokume gane attracts practitioners rather than consumers. In fact when I failed in fusing a precious metal with a non-precious one, I was really depressed but at the same time, I was fascinated by the pieces of wreckage found out from the kiln. Every process of Mokume gane has to be done by hands, although scientific theory helps us to understand the mechanism of Mokume gane-This is a real craft.